


Random Acts of Kindness

by Flutterbeam (aretia)



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Series, tol/smol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 19:43:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4678976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aretia/pseuds/Flutterbeam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared and Bighead come together as the only kind souls in a harsh corporate world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Random Acts of Kindness

**Author's Note:**

> If I’m the only one who sees Jared-Richard-Bighead as a love triangle, I might as well connect the third side of it with Jarhead! This is my "last hurrah" before going back to college. I hope I'll still have time to write, but I'll probably be posting a lot less. Rest assured I'm still Jarrich af.

Nelson “Bighead” Bighetti was sitting on the toilet for the fifth time that morning. That was the consequence of drinking a liter of caffeinated cola a day, he supposed. But he didn’t care. It had its upsides: going to the bathroom at work was an excuse to try again on that level of Candy Crush, and maybe he’d finally beat it without having to buy a power-up.

Suddenly, the bathroom door slammed and a voice boomed, “Don’t you dare try to hide in the bathroom, Jared! That meeting was a disaster and you know it.” The voice was the unmistakable roar of Gavin Belson.

“I honestly just need to go to the bathroom,” the man called Jared replied.

“Bullshit! You get out here in ten seconds and fix things with those Raviga pricks before they drive off with our latest idea, or I’m going to snap your worthless twig body in half.”

“Yes, sir,” came the other man’s response.

Bighead quickly pulled up his pants. He exited the stall and started to wash his hands at the same time the Jared guy stepped up to the sink. “That’s harsh, man,” he commented.

Jared seemed surprised that someone was addressing him in a tone that wasn’t violent. “What? Oh. Yes, I suppose so,” he agreed. “But I’m used to it.” The defeated look in his droopy, hypnotically blue eyes spoke to the truth of that statement.

Bighead knew of only one response to this situation. “Dude, do you need a hug?” He held his arms out, and Jared folded himself around him like a forlorn giraffe. Nothing made Bighead aware of how short he was like hugging a tall person. But this actually felt kind of nice, and warm, and reassuring. He hoped Jared felt that way too, because he needed it.

Jared pulled away. “Thank you. That was very nice of you. I’m Jared Dunn, by the way. What’s your name?”

“Bighead. Uh, I mean Bighetti,” he fumbled with his ID card as if to remind himself what his real name was, “Nelson Bighetti. But you can call me Bighead.”

Outside the bathroom door, Gavin shouted, “Whatever’s taking you so long in there, it won’t be important once you’re smeared on the windshield of the Raviga van, because if that’s what it takes to stop them from leaving I’ll—”

“Be right there,” Jared called back. Then to Bighead, “I have to go.” He darted out of the bathroom.

 

The Hooli cafeteria was just like a high school cafeteria, ruled by cliques. Richard always spent his lunch hour at his desk working on Pied Piper, so Bighead sat alone. Even though everyone here was supposedly a programming nerd, somehow he managed to be an outcast among outcasts. But he didn’t care. He just pulled out his phone and a bag of gummy bears, and got ignored by people on the internet to distract him from getting ignored in real life.

A pair of long legs in pleated khakis appeared in his peripheral vision. “Hey, how’s it hanging, Nelson?” The voice sounded familiar, and the words sounded like a middle-aged mom trying to be hip with the kids.

He looked up. It was the guy from the bathroom yesterday. Embarrassingly, he’d forgotten his name. “Uh, hey… important VP guy.”

“Jared,” he corrected him. “But thank you for the compliment. Do you mind if I sit here?”

“Uh, no, sure, go ahead,” Bighead said, with a gesture toward the seat across from him. “Hey, you know, technically, we’re even. You forgot my name too. I told you to call me Bighead.”

Jared looked distraught. “Oh no, I’m very sorry. I should know better.”

“Jared, it’s fine,” Bighead interrupted. “I was just messing with you.” He cracked a genuine smile.

Jared smiled back. “Listen, I really wanted to thank you again for what you did yesterday. You’re one of the only people who’s ever been nice to me around here.”

“Yeah? Well, I could say the same for you,” Bighead replied. “No one ever wants to sit with me. It’s stupid high school bullshit, I know. But it means a lot.”

“I’m glad I can help,” Jared beamed. The smile that lit up Jared’s face was radiant and infectious. Something about this guy was just so intense. He took everything seriously, and his emotions were always so visible in his big, expressive features. It struck at something deep beneath Bighead’s carefully cultivated shell of apathy.

“I should probably get back to work,” Jared said. “But before I go… would you mind, uh… could I hug you again?”

“Sure,” Bighead said. He stood up and readily wrapped his arms around Jared’s waist. He even nuzzled against his chest a little. He should be weirded out by how comfortable this felt, but it was too nice to think about anything else. Jared patted his head. Then he let go. “See ya, Jared,” Bighead said, waving to him as he walked away.

“Later, Bighead.”

 

Bighead’s head was pressed against his desk. The brogrammers had snuck the words “I suck dick” into his code when he went on a bathroom break, and they laughed when he finally realized why it wasn’t working after half an hour. He banged his head on the keyboard in frustration, and accidentally entered a bunch of text that he then had to delete all over again, which made them laugh even harder. But he didn’t care. These guys were just like everyone else in the world, having fun at his expense, because that was all he was good for. He was a useless coder and a useless friend. Okay, he cared a little.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. “Bighead? Is everything all right?” Jared’s reassuring voice.

Bighead just spun around in his chair and hugged him. The experience of hugging a tall person was even more pronounced when he was sitting down. His face was practically in Jared’s crotch—oh no that was not where he intended his mind to go and he definitely did not expect it to stay there. He was relieved when Jared kneeled down beside him. “I saw you were eating gummy bears at lunch the other day. Since I was coming to supervise your department today, I brought you some,” Jared said, handing him the bag.

“Wow. Thanks. You are so nice,” Bighead remarked, tearing open the bag and shoving a few candies into his mouth.

“I could say the same for you,” Jared complimented. “What’s going on here? Is someone giving you a hard time?”

“No… well, yeah, they are, but I don’t care,” he lied. He had to stop lying out loud and to himself. The crack in his voice betrayed him anyway. “It’s nothing I’m not used to. It’s just that I’m useless.”

“Nelson. Bighead. You are not useless. Everyone here has a role to play.”

“You have to say that because you’re a Hooli exec,” Bighead sobbed. “But what if I don’t believe in your corporate cult? What if some of us just don’t belong?”

Jared squeezed his arm. “I think you’re right. You and I don’t belong here. We’re the kind of people who get walked all over. I thought I was the only one and so I just had to endure it. But then I met you, and you didn’t take advantage of me; you wanted to help me. That really opened my eyes. People like us can be strong if we stick together and take care of each other.”

He cared. He cared so much. He cared about what people thought of him, if they avoided him or bullied him. And he cared about Jared a remarkable amount. “Jared?” he said. Jared tilted his head up. Those sky blue eyes were filled with hope and admiration and _attraction,_ something that he couldn’t deny he was feeling too. Bighead leaned down and kissed him. Something about Bighead being higher up than Jared set the universe, or at least Bighead, off balance. He tipped too far forward and fell off his chair, breaking contact with Jared’s lips as he collapsed on top of him and landed in his lap.

Bighead pulled away. “Ohhhh god I should not have done that in front of the guys who just wrote ‘I suck dick’ in my code.”

“I’ll admit that was a very bold move for the workplace, and I should not condone it,” Jared said, startled. He stood up and looked around. “But the programmers who were antagonizing you seem to have left.” He held out his hand and helped Bighead up. He didn’t let go. “Unfortunately, I have to get going, as usual. If you like, we can continue this after work. I rather enjoyed it.”

“Heh, me too. That would be nice,” Bighead giggled. He quickly hugged Jared goodbye, stood his chair back up, and actually got productive work done for once because he had something really great to look forward to.

In a few days, Richard Hendricks would finish his Pied Piper algorithm and put it in the sights of Hooli and Raviga, and everything would change. But for now, Jared and Bighead would make each other happy and be as nice to each other as they deserved.


End file.
